The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1887-07-20
RandalPs Plan for Harmony.

The Missouri RcpybIicd,l few days ago
addressed a few inquiries to Democratic
members of the House for the purpose of
discovering if there was any possibility of
an agreement on a tax reduction measure
which would have an ''unmistakable party
stamp A number of answers were re
ceivcd, and among them one from Mr.. Sam
j. Randall The answer of Mr.. Randall
was rather lengthy, and was an argument
TO show that the position which he has ali
along occupied with regard to the course to
pursue to reduce the revenues is the right
one, and that that occupied by the great
majority of his party is the wrong one.
To the question whether there sis prac-
ticable basis of compromise through which
the Democrats of the House can unite" he
replied in the affirmative and proceeded to
show that if the party would accept his pc
sition there would be no difficulty in reach
ing an agreement. OF course the Missouri
Republican and every one else knew that,
and it was not necessary for him to go to the
trouble of stating it for publication. To ac-
cept Mr.. Randall's position would not be a
compromise however, and it is not easy to
see how he could have answered the question
in the affirmative while virtually asserting
that there could be no agreement unless the
majority of the party accepted absolutely
the views of the small minority.
AS is well known, Mr.. Randall favors re-
pealing the internal revenue taxes on whisky,
beer and tobacco. He is opposed toreducing
customs duties unless it appears that the re
peal of the internal revenue taxes is not sutfi-
cient to rid the Treasury of the surplus, and
he is not willing to consider any measure
which provides for a reduction Of both the
internal revenue and the tariff taxes. The
position of the great majority of the party
is that the revenues should be reduced by re-
ducing the tariff There is no demand, ex-
cept by the tobacco growers, for reduction
of any of the internal revenue taxes while
there is a very general demand for the re-
duction of the tariff
1t is plain from Mr. Randall's letter that
the majority and minority of the Demo
cratic members of the House will be as
wide apart in this Congress as they were in
the last, and with no better prospect of
reaching an agreement. The Democrats
haven't large majority in the House, and
if Mr. Randall controls as many Demo
cratic votes on tariff questions as he did in
the last Congress it is doubtful if they can
pass a tax reduction measure.
The situation is rather remarkable one.
The country is clamoring for a reduction of
the revenues because the money which is
needed in circulation is being stored in the
Treasury to the amount of millions of dol
lars monthly The Democratic party, hay
ing majority in the House, is unable to eff
feet the required reduction because a few of
its members acting with the Republicans
want to dictate what taxes shall be reduced.
If the Democrats were to accept Mr.. Ran
dalls position their party would suffer a
signal defeat, and the Republican party
would claim a victory, and the claim would
be recognized Mr.. Randall seems deter
mined to assist the Republicans to gain
victory. Ought he be permitted to render
this assistance and at the same time to be
recognized as a Democratic leader?